Zelenskiy Says He’s Unsure If Ukraine Meddled in 2016 U.S. Election

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine should investigate whether there was any meddling by previous authorities in the 2016 U.S. elections, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told journalists during a daylong news conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

“Ukrainians should investigate it themselves, probably there are grounds for that, but first of all it is our issue,” he said. “It is very important for us so that in future we never interfere in elections of any country.”

A casually dressed Zelenskiy answered reporters' questions while seated in a trendy food court, at the end of a table next to an oyster bar. More than 300 accredited journalists were given different time slots for questioning, which began at breakfast. Six hours in, waiters brought lunch to the table, where Zelenskiy showed no signs of fatigue.

Zelenskiy told reporters that his administration is “ready to investigate” possible election activity, but so far he hasn't received any information about allegations from President Donald Trump's administration regarding meddling or about Burisma, the natural gas firm that had former Vice President Joe Biden's son as a board member.

While U.S. intelligence agencies and the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee found that Russia interfered in 2016 in an effort to help elect Trump, the American president has embraced a discredited theory spread by conservative outlets that the meddling began in Ukraine to help his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Read more: Zelenskiy Fields Queries on Trump as He Spends Day at Oyster Bar

“When the U.S. says, ‘Yes, there was meddling,' I say, ‘Please pass details and we will find. We will be happy to investigate.' The U.S. did not give me anything,” including on Burisma, he said.

Zelenskiy also rejected any suggestion that he was blackmailed by Trump during a now infamous phone call in July that's prompted an impeachment inquiry into the U.S. president. But he added that “Ukraine is not against” a joint investigation with the U.S. into the Bidens.

On the other hand, Zelenskiy said later in the day that he sees no reason he should be be asked to testify in U.S. investigations into his dealings with Trump.

“I did not violate any law in Ukraine, or any international law,” he said. “As president of Ukraine I don't understand what I should witness about in another country.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Larry Liebert

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